To show the world as it is, or as it is not: the gaze of Hollywood films about Africa

This paper discusses the nature of Hollywood's 'gaze' on Africa. The focus is on the import of the claim that the film Hotel Rwanda (Terry George 2004) is based on a true story - and therefore is somehow 'true'. Indeed, the film appears to be based on a mode of seeing that is constructed to show the 1994 Rwandan genocide as it is supposed to have happened. I argue that the attempt to make 'truthful' films is illogical. It is illogical because it is based on an elemental misunderstanding of the function of cinematic images. The function of cinematic images is to communicate specific ways - gazes - of seeing the world. Behind every film, then, is a gaze, or a conscious attempt to see the world in a certain way. Gazes are not objective, nor do they really need to be. Rather, gazes are part of communities of meaning that have no inherent validity, but must of necessity be contested, celebrated, or fought over. Gazes not only imply a source and a sender, but have never had the capacity to show the world as it is. In any case, truth - whatever it is - cannot fit a cinematic frame, but merely exceeds it. Film texts that purport to be able to project Africa 'believably', 'realistically' and 'truthfully' are either carelessly mistaken, or simply working a deception.